The centerpiece of GreenHunter Resources strategy is to quickly ramp up, and start producing revenue from, a series of wastewater injection wells in Meigs County, OH (see GreenHunter Resources 1Q15: Bets the Ranch on OH Injection Wells). There are two ways wastewater, both flowback and brine, will get to the Meigs County wells (called the Mills Hunter facility): 1. trucking, 2. barging. For years MDN has covered the controversy about barging brine (and possibly flowback) down the Ohio River to injection wells in Ohio. The holdup–frankly the problem–has been that the Obama administration has been pressuring the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) to withhold such approval. Never mind that substances far more toxic than shale wastewater are currently (right now) barged up and down the Ohio River every single day. That makes no difference. It’s public perception and how anti-drillers are able to warp and mold public opinion that is at issue here. After having their fill of waiting, GreenHunter made a brilliant move on the chessboard to break the stalemate. Using the USCG’s own rules and regulations against them, GreenHunter said current regulations issued in 1987 give them the right to barge brine–right now. And they intend to do so as soon as they have a facility built to load the barges. This is a little-covered aspect of this story and MDN, if we may immodestly say so, was the first and one of the few to figure it out (see GreenHunter/Coast Guard War of Words — MDN Explains It). Although a war of words has gone back and forth, GreenHunter has not backed down. During the 1Q15 earnings call we got an update on where things stand and a time frame for when GreenHunter plans to begin barging wastewater down the Ohio River…
